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RATIONALISATION OF TRANSPORT OF PERISHABLE GOODS ANDFOODSTUFFS, THROUGH EFFICIENT TRANSPORT SUPPLY CHAINS
DIMITRIOS TSAMBOULAS, PROFESSOR (CORRESPONDING AUTHOR) NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OFATHENS, SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
ANNA-MARIA LEKKA, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENSAIKATERINI RENTZIOU, PHD CANDIDATE
NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS
This is an abridged version of the paper presented at the conference. The full version is being submitted elsewhere.Details on the full paper can be obtained from the author.
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1
RATIONALISATION OF TRANSPORT OF
PERISHABLE GOODS AND FOODSTUFFS, THROUGH EFFICIENT TRANSPORT
SUPPLY CHAINS
Dimitrios Tsamboulas, Professor (Corresponding author)
National Technical University of Athens, School of Civil Engineering, Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering.
5, Heroon Polytechniou Str., Zographou, Athens, GR-15773, Greece, Tel.: +30 2107721367, Fax: +30 2107722404, E-mail: [email protected]
Anna-Maria Lekka, Research Associate
National Technical University of Athens, School of Civil Engineering, Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering.
5, Heroon Polytechniou Str., Zographou, Athens, GR-15773, Greece, Tel.: +30 2107721155, Fax: +30 2107722404, E-mail: [email protected]
Aikaterini Rentziou, PhD candidate
National Technical University of Athens, School of Civil Engineering, Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering.
5, Heroon Polytechniou Str., Zographou, Athens, GR-15773, Greece, Tel.: +30 2107721155, Fax: +30 2107722404, E-mail: [email protected]
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2
ABSTRACT
The economies of the Mediterranean Countries are very much dependent on agriculture;
therefore, the trade liberalization process is a significant stimulus for them, while the efficiency
and effectiveness of the supply chain of perishable goods and foodstuff constitute substantial
elements for the regions’ competitiveness and economic growth. In addition, the supply of
fresh produce is becoming increasingly competitive with latest market trends indicating that
competition between individual firms is being replaced by competition between supply chains.
In light of the above, the objective of the paper is to propose a procedural framework for the
rationalization of perishable goods and foodstuffs transport systems in the Mediterranean. The
framework presents a viable, efficient and competitive transport supply chain for perishable
goods and foodstuffs, ensuring product quality and sustainability, particularly for the transport
within EU member states. The latter is achieved through an evaluation by use of a Multi-
Criteria Analysis, which will ultimately provide valuable benchmarks for improved supply
chains compared to those existing. The development of such efficient supply chains would
result in enhancing the trade among EU and Mediterranean countries, contributing, thus,
ultimately to the economic growth of the Mediterranean countries.
Keywords: transport supply chain, perishable goods and foodstuffs, multi-criteria analysis,
Mediterranean region
INTRODUCTION
Perishable goods and foodstuffs have the unique characteristic that they lose their value with
time. On the other hand, the consumers’ preferences for perishable goods and foodstuffs are
influenced by price and quality (freshness/expiration date). In addition, they are characterized
by a high level of type differentiation, seasonality and spatial dispersion of flows, caused by
the variety of production areas and bodies. Market data has shown that the demand for such
products in Europe is more segmented than elsewhere, leading to a greater necessity to
import goods from abroad.
At the same time, Mediterranean countries are gaining momentum with regard to the
production of agro-food perishables goods. Nevertheless, fragmentation of logistic chains,
small size operators and lack of intermodality are the key issues characterizing the
transportation of perishable goods and foodstuff between South Mediterranean countries (the
producers) and Central Europe (the consumers). The need arises, therefore, for a unified
approach in terms of concentrating and integrating perishable goods flows in the area in order
to avoid diseconomies and negative impacts.
Based on the above, the present paper aims at the rationalization of the transport of
perishable goods and foodstuffs supply chain systems in the Mediterranean region, through
the development of a viable, efficient and competitive transport supply chain and related
logistics services, ensuring product quality, safety and sustainability. The proposed
methodology makes use of a multi-criteria analysis for evaluating(and benchmarking) potential
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
3
perishable goods and foodstuffs supply chains in the Mediterranean area with the scope to
determine the most viable and efficient ones. For demonstration purposes, the methodology is
applied to two transport corridors operating between South Mediterranean countries and
Europe.
TRENDS AND STRUCTURE OF PERISHABLE GOODS AND SUPPLY CHAIN IN MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES
Background
Perishable goods and foodstuff need, by their very nature, highly efficient supply lines for
storage and fast transport through the supply chain so that commodities reach consumers at
optimum quality, freshness and shelf-live levels. Although improved refrigeration technology
has made the time factor somewhat less critical (Nordtvedt, 2009), perishable goods continue
to be particularly sensitive with regard to on-time reliability (Patterson et al., 2008). In addition,
the market requires product homogeneity, continuous deliveries, quality upgrading and stable
shelf-life. The most relevant critical aspects affecting fresh-food products are the following
(Bruzzone et al., 2009):
• Perishability, which implies the need for very rapid logistics processes.
• The very high level of organoleptic quality and freshness, which implies hard constraints
for cost reductions.
• Traceability, required among the goods to be distributed, as well as controls for
guaranteeing supply chain safety and security.
• Special processes required for preparing food along the supply chain: slaughtering, meat
cutting, packaging or modified atmosphere packaging (MAP).
• Strong seasonal behaviour of demand and production, which introduces a continuous
evolution in the product mix, as well as the necessity to organise a robust and flexible
logistics network.
• Difficulty in creating an efficient and optimised platform due the interaction of many
logistics flows.
• Presence of direct distribution flows from producer to final consumer (stores).
Food and agribusiness supply chains and networks are now rapidly moving towards globally
interconnected systems with a large variety of complex relationships; this also affects the ways
in which food is produced, processed and delivered to the market (Gustafsson et al., 2006).
In the Mediterranean area, trade has been an on-going activity for centuries, while
Mediterranean countries’ economies are very much dependent on agriculture. Therefore, the
trade liberalization process is a significant stimulus for them (Petit, 2006). In addition, South
Mediterranean countries (which are not EU member states) have comparative advantages
over the southern EU countries, especially in the perishable goods and foodstuff trade.
Despite a slight decreasing trend in the last years in exports, South Mediterranean countries
constitute a significant trading partner of the European Union in the fruit and vegetables sector
with a 9% share of imports to EU (Kalaitzis et al., 2007).
In addition, a Euro-Mediterranean policy is taking form to build a Euro-Mediterranean logistics
area of effective and sustainable growth. Numerous related programmes and initiatives have
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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been developed , such as the Regional Transport Action Plan (RTAP) and the Mediterranean
Sea Basin Programme, together with regional projects, such as the AGRO-ENVIRONMED,
MEDNET - Mediterranean Network for Custom Procedures and Simplification of Clearance in
Ports, FREEMED - Free Trade Zones in the Mediterranean Basin, MEDA TEN-T -
Mediterranean Trans-European Networks for Transport, VEG-i-TRADE - Impact of climate
change and globalisation on safety of fresh produce governing a supply chain of
uncompromised food sovereignty, SFECT - Supervising of food during European-wide cool
transport and the SUSFOOD - food supply chain with main focus on food chain sustainability,
etc.
Despite the above, the South Mediterranean countries’ industry of perishable goods and
foodstuff is typically characterized by small scale producers, while the Euro-Mediterranean
trade of related products is small, asymmetrical and fragmented (Garcia et al., 2008). The
production structures and control systems that exist in the Mediterranean countries (especially
non-EU countries) are rather unsophisticated and, consequently, the perishable goods and
foodstuffs imports from South Mediterranean countries play a less important or niche role in
the European markets, where the majority of the related products originate from Southern
European Mediterranean countries. Another cause of fragmentation is linked to the bilateral
nature of the trade arrangements between South Mediterranean countries and the EU and
International standards. More specifically, knowledge of evolving standards is often lacking
(Busch et al., 2000), and South Mediterranean countries lag in their capacity for effective
certification and accreditation of testing facilities (Stephenson, 1997).
An additional problem affecting the perishable goods industry of the Mediterranean countries
is the transport-related bottlenecks, at infrastructure, operational and administrative level, as
well as lack of harmonisation of procedures and cross-border cooperation.
Such conditions endanger the quality of fresh produce, which is one of the most essential food
product characteristics throughout the supply chain (Smith and Sparks, 2004), since due to its
perishable nature, the industry must operate at a faster pace. To this end, quality and safety
control of perishable goods is a formidable challenge for the South Mediterranean countries,
and differences in technical requirements and/or conformity assessment procedures make
often the process of quality certification very difficult , influencing trade relations with European
countries. Trienekens and Zuurbier (2008) claim that quality assurance is expected to
dominate the process of production and distribution in food chains in the future.
Supply and Consumer Trends
Suppliers of fresh produce are less able to differentiate their products at the consumer level.
They are in a weak bargaining position as price differentiation is almost the only available
strategy. Suppliers are also often forced to accept low prices in order to get volume growth,
which does little to improve their immediate and long-term financial performance (Garcia,
2007). These trends are common to most countries, but are more severe in South
Mediterranean countries, where small suppliers are mainly dealing with middle-men having no
direct contact with the consumers and their preferences.
On the other hand, consumers ask for a variety of products, while also changing references,
food preferences, buying habits, and lifestyle pushing for easy to prepare products. All these
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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changes in the marketplace present significant challenges to retailers and manufacturers to
project demand, plan manufacturing and also meet supply in a timely manner (Kumar and
Nigmatullin, 2001). Seasonality adds even more complexity to the food supply chain through
fluctuating consumer demand and availability of raw products (Georgiadis et al. 2005). These
are requirements that producers in South Mediterranean countries simply cannot meet with
their current structure and supply chain processes.
Supply Chain Structure
The critical components of fruit and vegetable supply chains include supply, demand, and
price for supply chain members including farmers, wholesalers, and retailers. Price variability
at all levels of supply chain occurs due to dynamic factors, such as substitute goods price,
inflation, import, export, production costs, customer demands (Teimoury et al., 2013).
Ahumada and Villalobos (2009) identify two main types of agricultural supply chains: fresh
agri-foods supply chain and non-perishable agri-foods supply chain. They review fresh
products owing to their logistical complexity, their limited shelf life, and the renewed interest of
the public on the safety of these products.
Food systems in developing countries are not always as well organised and developed as in
the industrialised world, and moreover, knowledge of standards is often lacking (Briz et al.
2005). This is the case in most South Mediterranean Countries. Food safety is more likely to
be a concern in fresh food products destined for international trade than in other types of
agricultural trade (Unnevehr, 2000). The latter constitutes a key concern for the fragmented
and dispersed producers of fresh produce in South Mediterranean countries.
In most countries of the region, supply chain structures in the fruit and vegetable sector are in
a stage of shifting from government controlled institutions towards increased participation of
private structures. Exports are handled mainly through independent commissioners who work
on the basis of consignments and operate on spot markets (central wholesale markets), or
through larger buying/packing houses, which are focusing on supplying either wholesalers in
importing countries or buying centres of retail chains and other large institutional buyers that
apply modern supply chain management methods (Kalaitzis et al., 2007).
A typical supply chain for fresh agricultural products in developing countries, as is the case of
South Mediterranean countries, is presented in Figure 1 (Vanany et al, 2010).
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Figure 1: Structure of fresh agriculture produce supply chain
Despite what was described in this section, the identification of a sustainable supply chain
developed for perishable and foodstuffs in the Mediterranean area has yet to be
accomplished. On the other hand, most of the related literature is dealing with sophisticated
supply chains, including the domain of perishable goods and foodstuffs. In addition, in
developing an optimum supply chain, all transport systems are assumed to operate efficiently,
while the focus is shifted towards logistics operations. Nevertheless, this is not a common
scenario for South Mediterranean countries, where a targeted approach is required.
In light of the above, the specific characteristics of this type of commodity in combination with
its requirements render the development of a supply chain suitable for these goods
transported between South Mediterranean area and central Europe essential. The present
analysis focuses, therefore, on the development of a methodology for the identification of the
most viable and efficient supply chain for transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs for
these specific origin-destination corridors.
METHODOLOGY
The methodology developed focuses on the identification of an improved -as it concerns its
performance-supply chain for the transport of the perishable goods and foodstuffs between the
South Mediterranean area and central Europe. It consists first of the identification of all
existing perishable good supply chains in a specific region of the Mediterranean, followed by a
multi-criteria analysis, which, based on appropriate indicators/criteria, will evaluate the
effectiveness of each selected supply chain in terms of viability, efficiency and
competitiveness. The key objective of the methodology is the selection of the best
performance supply chains in terms of viability and efficiency, by measuring the benefits and
costs of the system’s operation with regard to economies of scale and added value.
A multi-criteria analysis (MCA) was employed due to its distinct advantages of dealing with
discretionary or intangible impacts that cannot be directly translated to monetary units. A
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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qualitative rather than quantitative approach is, therefore, followed, due to the difficulty in
assigning quantitative measures to the supply chain characteristic criteria that will be
examined in this paper. Another main advantage of the multi-criteria analysis is that the
different criteria included can be combined to determine a single deciding value (as in cost-
effectiveness analysis), or can be treated individually without aggregation (as in compatibility
analysis). To this end, the proposed MCA comprises of five distinct steps, described in detail in
the following.
Step 1: Criteria Selection
The first step includes the identification of the assessment objectives, that is, the selection of
appropriate criteria and sub-criteria together with their way of measurement. Several types of
criteria exist to measure supply chain and logistics activities. For the purpose of this analysis,
four main categories of criteria have been selected by the authors to cover all aspects of the
perishable food supply chain in the area under study, as per the related literature. In particular,
the criteria chosen are the ones that bear more relevance to the Mediterranean region and the
types of transport supply chains that are currently operating or proposed to be operational in
the area. In addition, they are easy to be measured, given the limited availability of data in the
region. These are the following:
• Quality: These criteria are often the simplest to implement and measure. They usually
indicate the level of performance of a specific activity.
• Time: These criteria focus on the time it takes to complete specific activities in
comparison to the overall supply chain performance.
• Financial: These criteria assist in the determination of costs and the development of
more efficiently managed supply chains.
• Productivity: These criteria examine the level of use of human resources.
Related sub-criteria under the above categories were also selected. The criteria and related
sub-criteria are presented in Table 1, together with their units of measurement.
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Table 1-Supply Chain Evaluation Criteria
Criteria
Category
Sub-Criteria Sub-
Criterion
Number
Unit of
Measurement
Quality Produced Products that meet standards of fresh food products Regulations
C1 tons/year
Fresh food products registered in country C2
No of different products
Shipping Accuracy C3 %
Order Compliance C4
-1(not satisfactory) to+1(very good)
Picking Accuracy C5
-1(not satisfactory) to+1(very good)
Security Measures C6 yes/no
Adequate Shelf Life C7 yes/no
Stock Rate C8
% (with 100% maximum)
On time arrivals C9 %
Shipments arriving in good conditions C10 %
Traceability (traceability systems) Yes/no
Response Time
Purchase Order Issue C11 Hrs
On-time delivery C12 yes/no
Supplier lead-time variability C13 low-medium-high
Loading/ unloading time C14 Hrs
Warehouse order processing time C15 Hrs
Customs clearance cycle C16 Days
Order Entry Time C17 Hrs
Cost/ Financial
Total supply cost C18 Euro
Total warehousing cost C19 Euro
Value of product not damaged C20 Euro
Average transportation cost per km/ ton C21 euro/km/tons
Ratio of transportation cost to value of product per ton
C22 ratio (%, with the
lowest better)
Productivity Average number of products processed C23 No of products
Storage space utilization C24 Sqm
Vehicle use availability C25 No of vehicles
Container capacity utilization C26 %
Average number of stops per route C27 No of stops
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Step 2-Weighting of criteria
The weighting technique includes the estimation of criteria related weights (criteria will be
weighted against each other). For the purpose of this application, the Paired Comparison
Approach was chosen. This is a scaling approach (Lootsma, 1988), and is employed in order
to derive criteria weights by answering the question “is this criterion more important than the
other?”. This allows for a paired comparison matrix (see for example Table 2) to be filled with
zero’s (0) and one’s (1), where one represents “is more important”.
The elements Aij where i≠ j will be completed in columns according to the paired comparison
method- with 1 if i is more important than j or else with 0. In the absence of any specific
instruction given by the method, the value 0.5 is set for the elements Aij where i=j.
By adding these values over a matrix column, a measure is obtained for the degree to which a
criterion is important compared to all other criteria. Finally, these measures are standardised,
and a set of criteria weights is created. For the purpose of the present analysis, the following
standardization equation was used:
Standardised score wi = ∑ scoresraw
wscoreraw i
''
..''
(1)
To this end, each ‘raw’ score is divided by the sum of all ‘raw’ scores. This type of
transformation is particularly appropriate for standardising various sets of different criterion
weights, since the application of equation (1) implies that all weights will add up to unity.
Table 2-Pair Comparison Matrix (* Wi: Weight/ Importance of Criterion i)
Step 3- Estimation of criteria levels in physical scale.
At this stage the scores (degree of performance) for each criterion are estimated, according to
the data collection process carried out for the purpose of the current analysis. For the
quantitative criteria, the physical scale of performance is measured as a change in comparison
with the reference case and not as an absolute value. For the qualitative criteria, the physical
scale of performance is measured in a “verbal” scale with 2 or more discrete points, i.e. yes/no
or very good/good/satisfactory/not satisfactory, etc.
Step 4-Estimation of criteria/impact levels in artificial scale
To make the various criterion scores compatible in order to facilitate their aggregation, it is
necessary to transform these into one common measurement unit, for example forcing each
W*1 W2 W3
W1 A11 A12 A13
W2 A21 A22 A23
W3 A31 A32 A33
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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criterion score to take values between [-1,1], by making use of the so called utility functions of
the following form:
+PCj/A, if P >0
UCj = { 0, if P=0 (2)
- PCj/B, if P< 0
where:
j: criterion number
Cj: criterion j
PCj: Physical (real) performance of criterion j (measured as a change in comparison with
the reference case or as an absolute value)
UCj: Artificial (after transformation) performance of criterion j
A, B: Constant variables that either depend on measurement thresholds or are set by the
relevant decision makers
The qualitative criteria scores are derived by ranking the “verbal” physical performances from
the “worst “ to the “best”, and then assigning the values of artificial scale from the lowest to the
highest values, respectively, as in the following example:
-1 No
+1 Yes
or
-1 Not satisfactory
+0,25 Satisfactory
+0.5 Good
+1 Very Good
Step 5- Aggregation
The final step includes the aggregation of all weighted criterion scores to estimate the total
score of the system’s overall performance. Weighted summation of criterion scores takes
place by applying Multiple Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT). The final score is calculated by
equation (3), using the results of Steps 2 and 4.
(3)
where:
j: criterion number
Wj: criterion weight
Uj: Artificial performance of criterion j
jUJ
jjWPT *
1
.. ∑==
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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T.P. : Total performance score
Final Result
The main output of the proposed methodology will be the evaluation of one or more proposed
supply chains for the exports/imports of perishable goods and foodstuffs from/to the South
Mediterranean countries. In addition, the proposed methodology can render a
ranking/prioritized list of selected supply chains, based on their respective scores, providing
thus a sound basis for rationalization of the fresh food supply chain transport system of a
particular area. This analysis can also act a valuable tool for benchmarking best practices in
the development of similar perishable goods and foodstuffs transport corridors in other
regions.
APPLICATION
The proposed methodology was applied to two different supply chains in two countries in the
Mediterranean region. In order to ensure comparable results, the two supply chains were
selected in terms of type of perishable good transported and origin/destination. The perishable
good was selected based on the percentage of export of the specific country, in order to
ensure that the specific supply chain is indicative for the region under study. To this end, the
application focused on the analysis of two transport corridors between two Mediterranean
countries, that is, Morocco and Tunisia and an EU country, France. The key perishable good
transported between these countries is citrus. A desk research survey of available statistics,
related studies and papers was carried out in order to measure selected criteria, whereas
criteria weights were selected based on preferences expressed by experts (transport
operators, merchants, export and import institutions, food manufactures, food retailers) from
the countries under study.
Case 1: Morocco - France
Citriculture represents an important branch of the Moroccan economy, while the citrus
production is mostly based on export. Export quantities are close to 500 000 Mt/ year and they
somewhat vary from year to year, representing 40 to 50 % of the total production. From the
authors’ survey, it is clear that most citrus growers try to export as much of their crop as
possible because of the greater returns obtained on the export market than on the domestic
market. However, with Morocco’s population increasing, the production being relatively
stagnant, and the power of buying of the consumer increasing, the prices in the domestic
market will continue to improve unless export prices drop suddenly for some unexpected
reason or the production increases so dramatically. Citrus export is based on quality
standards, and products that do not meet these standards are sold in the domestic market.
Rotten or broken fruit is destroyed, while very little quantity goes to juicing. One of the main
reasons is that the cost of production cannot be offset by the prices offered by juice
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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processing. The destinations of Morocco citrus exports have also changed over the years.
Among the EU countries, France, the Netherlands and Great Britain constitute the main
importers (El-Otmani et. al., 2007).
Case 2: Tunisia - France
The major part of the production of citrus in Tunisia is sold in the domestic market (80 to 90%)
where prices are determined by competition. However, high prices on the domestic market can
discourage producers to look at export, in spite of the incentive measures taken by the
government towards the product’s export. Citrus fruit exports hold a share ranging between 2
and 3% in the total agro-food exports. Approximately, 90% of citrus in the fresh form are
exported to the French market (Laajimi and Mimoun ,2007)
Evaluation Results
The evaluation was carried out for the two supply chains and results are presented in Tables 3
and 4, for Morocco-France and Tunisia-France corridors, respectively. According to the
evaluation results, the estimated total score for corridor 1 is slightly higher than the one
estimated for corridor 2, thus indicating that the supply chain for citrus between Morocco and
France is the most viable and efficient, at least marginally. This is also validated by the fact
that Morocco has acquired significant expertise in the exporting of the citrus over the years.
Statistically, Morocco is the 3rd largest exporter of citrus over the region in contrast to Tunisia,
which is at the 6th place of exporting countries (EuroMedCitrusNet, 2007). To this end, the
Morocco-France citrus supply chain can be used as a benchmark case/ “best practice” for all
countries transporting this particular commodity in the region. This will provide valuable
guidance for decisions with regard to loading/unloading times, warehouse order processing
times, and the ratio of transportation cost to value of product, etc.
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Table 3- Case 1 Evaluation Results
Criteria
Category
Sub-Criterion
Number
Sub-Criterion
Value
Weight of
Criterion
Weight of
Sub-Criterion
Weighted
Score per
Sub-Criterion
Quality
C1 0.25
0.2
0.03 0.0075
C2 1 0.01 0.01
C3 0.25 0.02 0,005
C4 1 0.01 0,01
C5 0.5 0.02 0.01
C6 1 0.03 0.03
C7 0.25 0.02 0.005
C8 0.5 0.02 0.01
C9 0.25 0.02 0.005
C10 1 0.02 0.02
Response Time
C11 0.25
0.4
0.04 0.02
C12 1 0.06 0.06
C13 0.5 0.08 0.04
C14 0.5 0.07 0.035
C15 1 0.04 0.04
C16 0.25 0.05 0.0125
C17 0.25 0.06 0.015
Cost/ Financial
C18 1
0.3
0.08 0.08
C19 0.5 0.04 0.02
C20 0,6 0.07 0.042
C21 0.25 0.06 0.015
C22 1 0.05 0.05
Productivity
C23 0.5
0.1
0.03 0.015
C24 0.25 0.01 0.0025
C25 0.25 0.02 0.005
C26 0.5 0.03 0.015
C27 1 0.01 0.01
Total Score 0.5895
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Table 4-Case 2 Evaluation Results
Criteria
Category
Sub-Criterion
Number
Sub-Criterion
Value
Weight of
Criterion
Weight of
Sub-Criterion
Score per
Sub-Criterion
Quality
C1 0.25
0.2
0.03 0.0075
C2 1 0.01 0.01
C3 0.25 0.02 0.005
C4 1 0.01 0.01
C5 0.5 0.02 0.01
C6 1 0.03 0.03
C7 0.25 0.02 0.005
C8 0.5 0.02 0.01
C9 0.25 0.02 0.005
C10 1 0.02 0.02
Response Time
C11 0.25
0.4
0.04 0.01
C12 1 0.06 0.06
C13 0.5 0.08 0.04
C14 0.25 0.07 0.0175
C15 0.5 0.04 0.02
C16 0.25 0.05 0.0125
C17 0.25 0.06 0.015
Cost/ Financial
C18 1
0.3
0.08 0.08
C19 0.5 0.04 0.02
C20 1 0.07 0.07
C21 0.25 0.06 0.015
C22 0.9 0.05 0.045
Productivity
C23 0.5
0.1
0.03 0.015
C24 0.25 0.01 0.0025
C25 0.25 0.02 0.005
C26 0.5 0.03 0.015
C27 1 0.01 0.01
Total Score 0.565
Rationalization of transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs, through efficient transport supply chains
Tsamboulas, Dimitrios; Lekka, Anna-Maria; Rentziou, Aikaterini
13th WCTR, July 15-18, 2013 –Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
15
CONCLUSIONS
One of the main economic sectors of developing countries in the South Mediterranean area is
agriculture, rendering the transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs an indispensible activity
for the region’s growth. Nevertheless, the operation of fresh food supply chains in these
countries is lagging far behind due to lack of sophistication, while being hindered by
considerable bottlenecks, significantly compromising the products’ quality.
Current research in the sector of perishable goods and foodstuffs transport is mainly focused
on the analysis of sophisticated and optimized supply chains, which are hardly applicable to
those currently operating in the countries of the South Mediterranean. To this end, the present
paper aimed at proposing a procedural framework for the rationalization of perishable goods
and foodstuffs transport systems in this specific region. The analysis included the development
of a methodology for the identification of the most viable and efficient supply chain corridor for
the transport of perishable goods and foodstuffs through an evaluation by use of a Multi-
Criteria Analysis, with criteria related to the critical components of the region’s supply chains,
as well as the specificities and supply chain operating conditions of the South Mediterranean.
For the purpose of demonstrating its added value, the methodology was applied to two real
case studies of citrus transport between two South Mediterranean countries with an EU
Member State.
The proposed evaluation framework can ultimately provide valuable benchmarks for improved
supply chains compared to existing ones, and will, therefore allow for the creation of an
efficient and sustainable perishable goods and foodstuffs transport system network in the
South Mediterranean region that could ultimately contribute to its countries’ sustainable
development and economic growth. In addition, the proposed framework provides a
benchmarking tool for effective strategic planning and decision-making for both the demand
and supply side of the perishable goods and foodstuffs transport market.
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